University Of Delaware Student Competes On “Survivor”

Redemption Island is back, reinventing the hit reality show with the ultimate twist - giving the exiled a second chance. Emmy winner Jeff Probst hosts on this island paradise, in the only game on television that's as much fun to watch as it is to play. Contestants navigate overrun jungles and explosive volcanoes, all to take on the tropics and take down adversaries in Survivor South Pacific. SURVIVOR plays Wednesdays (8/7c)

NEWARK, Del. (CBS) – Students at the University of Delaware cheered on one of their own Wednesday night as she competed on the 25th season of “Survivor.”

Katie Hanson, a criminal justice major from Newark, Delaware, as well as 17 other people, including Lisa Whelchel who played “Blair” on the show “The Facts of Life,” all aim to outwit, outplay and outlast the other for $1 million.

Other familiar faces include Jeff Kent, a retired MLB second baseman who played for the San Francisco Giants.

Hanson, 21, aspires to be a Delaware State Trooper. In 2011 she won Miss Delaware USA and competed in the national competition.

“I’m very competitive,” Hanson told CBS. “I feel like if I can do well on ‘Survivor,’ I can do well as a state trooper.”

Fellow University of Delaware students gathered at the Trabant Lounge for a “Survivor” viewing party. Hanson survived her first day with the Kalabaw tribe, winning immunity.